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| ISBN-13: | 9780486173832 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dover Publications |
| Publication date: | 06/10/2014 |
| Series: | Dover Books on Music |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 336 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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The Clarinet and Clarinet Playing
By David Pino
Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 1980 David PinoAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-17383-2
CHAPTER 1
What a Clarinetist Needs
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND OUTLOOK
Maybe the best way to answer the question of what a serious clarinetist needs is to approach it from another angle: Why does anybody want to play clarinet in the first place? Why play an instrument at all, and why the clarinet in particular? Although these questions may seem largely rhetorical, I have come across a great many players who appear to have never seriously considered them. Just because your Great-uncle John played clarinet in his hometown band during weekly concerts in the park in the early days of the century, you don't have to bring out his old metal Albert-system clarinet from the attic, dust it off, and try to learn to play it. That's not only a poor reason for studying clarinet but also a poor clarinet to try to use. Another poor reason for studying the clarinet is to enable yourself to enter contests, either in the public schools or elsewhere; if you are already seriously studying clarinet, and if, after some progress, you want to enter a few playing contests, that is fine. But the clarinet should not be taken up as a mere way to gather a collection of contest medals. There is more to music-making than that. Instead, you should love music-making in general, and the clarinet in particular, in order to be properly motivated to study the clarinet. That love is the first requirement.
To fulfill that requirement you should have a great desire to play the clarinet for its own sake, but perhaps even more important than that you should possess an intense desire to create, and to become expressive, within the art of music. You should feel personally confident in the quality of your playing and the development of your art. And it is essential to success that you possess what psychologists would call a good self-concept. The creative impulse must come from within rather than from someone else such as a tyrannical teacher or a domineering relative. Many fine players have developed their skills under the external influence of such teachers and relatives, but if that influence is stronger than the player's own inner impulse he will eventually come up against a creative barrier due to the simple fact that he lacks the necessary self-motivation. It all comes back to having an excellent self-concept for, without that, the perseverance the developing player needs will become a chore rather than the immensely rewarding experience that it should be.
Another requirement of fine clarinet playing is "a good ear." This can be said of fine playing on any instrument, of course, for it is absolutely essential. Some people seem to have the idea that anyone can learn to play an instrument well if they just practice hard enough, but that is not true. A violinist I know once told me a story about an adult beginning student who came to him with the idea that if he, the student, worked hard and diligently practiced for exactly 14,000 hours, he would automatically become a first-rate violinist. The man had computed the 14,000 hours by figuring out how much time a child prodigy would have to practice before reaching adulthood, and he felt that if a child could do that, so could he. What actually happened was that this man had to give up the struggle after a few months because he lacked a good ear. He discovered that there is much more to becoming a first-rate violinist than the number of hours spent practicing.
What we call a good ear cannot, unfortunately, be taught; you must be born with it, just as you must be born with any other aspect of "talent." This does not mean, however, that your "ear" cannot be "improved" through study. The clarinetist's knowledge of music and his ability to interpret it are tremendously enhanced by "ear training," as that term is used by music theory teachers today. In fact, such study is essential to fine clarinet playing. You can also train your ear through intelligent listening to your own clarinet playing and that of others. You must be able to distinguish an interval, or the distance between two tones, before you play the two tones in question; you must be able to play in/tune with yourself and with others; and you must work toward developing a fine tone quality in the sound that issues forth from your clarinet. All these things are essential to the development of a good ear, and a good ear is essential to the development of these things.
The clarinetist's next requirement is a good teacher. No blanket statement can adequately describe a good teacher, but I strongly feel that the best clarinet teachers are those who can both play and teach. There are fine players who, unfortunately, are unable to communicate with students. Equally unfortunately, there are articulate people who cannot back up their communication skills with good playing experience. It becomes obvious, then, that you should pick for your clarinet teacher a fine player who has demonstrated the results of good teaching through his former students. This represents the ideal situation, of course, and the ideal cannot always be attained. So, if a choice must be made between these two strengths, I recommend giving preference to the fine player. If such a player's interest in teaching goes beyond monetary considerations, he will at least try to explain to the student what he is doing to achieve his fine playing, and he will be able to set goals for you. The good communicator who cannot play well, however, is communicating to you from a very limited frame of reference. In clarinet teaching, there is no substitute for the teacher's knowledge of how first-class clarinet playing actually feels.
Other personal characteristics required of aspiring clarinetists, such as the ability to be endlessly patient with one's own progress (or with the seeming lack of it), will be dealt with later in the book. But, first, let us consider the clarinetist's equipment and accessories, since musicians have material needs as well as intangible ones.
EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES
Quality equipment is as essential to good clarinet playing as it is to any other craft, of course; but it may surprise many people to learn that the clarinet itself is probably not the most important item on the equipment list. The mouthpiece is the clarinetist's most important object. Second in importance is the condition of the clarinet and its mechanism. Next in importance may very well be the reed, and we have already relegated the clarinet itself to fourth place on the list of important pieces of clarinetist's equipment. The specific reasons for listing the mouthpiece, the condition of the clarinet, the reed, and the clarinet itself in that particular order will become clearer as we discuss each of those items later on. Suffice it to say here that each of those items must be of the highest quality obtainable.
The rest of the necessary equipment and accessories is listed here in no particular order.
A clarinet swab is necessary to clean and dry the bore of the instrument after each playing, and it's a good idea to use it during long playing sessions which allow condensation to collect inside the instrument. More will be said about this when the care of the clarinet is discussed, but for now please note that allowing excessive moisture to gather in the bore of your clarinet is bad for both the wood in the instrument itself and for the pads covering the tone-holes. A variety of clarinet swabs is available in music stores, but the best one of all is one that you make yourself. Clarinetists know the problems and limitations of most commercially made swabs: They are too short to go through the entire bore of the clarinet so you have to take the whole clarinet apart to swab it out; they have little, rough, hard-to-control metal weights that may, and often do, scratch the surface of the clarinet bore; and finally, many of them fail to absorb moisture well. In order to make a superior swab you need three things: a large piece of fabric, a 40-inch shoe- or bootlace, and a piece of wooden doweling about the same length and diameter as a new, unsharpened pencil. (In fact, a new, unsharpened pencil will work just as well.) All you do is sew 10 or 12 inches of one end of the bootlace onto a corner of your material in such a way that it extends straight from the corner toward the center of the material. In other words, sew it on so that when you use it later as a swab, the string will pull a corner of the material into the clarinet first, rather than the middle of a straight side of it. The material can either be a three-sided or a four-sided piece, and of course, the little plastic endpiece on the shoestring should be cut off. After you have attached the string to the cloth, simply sew the doweling (or the pencil) into the interior of the other end of the shoelace. Once it is inside, stitch across the end of the shoelace to keep the wooden piece from falling out, and stitch across the shoelace at the other end of the wooden piece so that it will not fall down even farther into the shoelace toward the piece of material. Your new swab will be ready to use when you make sure it fits through the bore of the clarinet. Drop the weighted end of the swab into the assembled clarinet (minus the mouthpiece, of course) at the bell end, watching for it to emerge at the barrel-joint end, and then try to pull the material through; if it gets stuck in the clarinet, remove it by taking the clarinet apart around it. Then trim the material to size. When the fit is right, hem the material all around the edges so that it will not fray too readily during use. I have a black swab that my wife made for me from a woman's head scarf, and it has worked very well for several years.
A reed clipper is indispensable during the processes of reed preparation and adjustment, and its proper use will be discussed in Chapter 11, "Reeds." The best reed clippers are made by the Cordier company in France. There are many less expensive ones on the market, and although none of them compares with the Cordiers, a young student learning to work with reeds can do very nicely at first with a less expensive clipper. Eventually, though, a Cordier reed clipper should be purchased. When choosing one, take along to the music store a few old reeds that you won't be using any more and test the reed clippers to make sure they cut cleanly and evenly.
A few pieces of the finest-grained sandpaper are just as indispensable while working with reeds as the reed clipper is. Be sure to get the finest available, such as 600A or something even finer, or else you will tear far too much wood off your reeds, especially when the paper is new. Again, proper use of the sandpaper will be discussed in Chapter 11, "Reeds." Many clarinetists recommend using Dutch rush, or reed rush, for some of the same purposes that I use sandpaper, but I think that a small piece of sandpaper wrapped around the index finger works just as well, and it is much more readily available than Dutch rush.
Next, in order to have something to use the sandpaper on, you will need a piece of plate glass. This can be any size from a few square inches on up. Plate glass is a big help in working with reeds, and for sanding purposes it is unsurpassed. When sanding on it, always use the same spot on the glass, since repeated sanding does mar the surface of the glass. Some clarinetists use Plexiglas or some sort of sheet plastic, but plastic seems to me to wear down too quickly if it is used for sanding. When you buy the piece of glass, request that the glass company buff down the edges so that they will not be sharp. If you are thinking of making your own reeds, see Chapter 11, "Reeds," in which I give more specific information on the sizes and thicknesses of glass to buy.
A reed scraping knife is absolutely essential if you are going to make your own reeds (see Chapter 11, "Reeds," again). It can be a big help even with commercially made reeds. Any knife, I suppose, could be used if it will take a keen edge on a straight blade. The well-known Exacto knives have the advantage of using disposable blades, eliminating any sharpening process. Many clarinetists use such knives. The serious reed worker, however, should have a fine, straight, beveled-edged knife such as the ones used by bassoonists in making their reeds. The bassoon knives seem handier for making single reeds than do the oboe knives, and there are several music supply mail-order houses that sell both bassoon-reed scraping knives and clarinet-reed scraping knives without bothering to tell the buyer that they are one and the same knife!
A supply of cork grease is needed in order to properly lubricate the cork-covered tenon joints of the clarinet. Without cork grease the corks will dry out, crack, tear, and cause air leaks between the clarinet's joints.
A soft-bristle brush, such as one of the larger sizes commonly used by schoolchildren for their watercolors, is excellent for keeping dust and dirt out of the mechanism of the clarinet. An occasional brushing under the keys and around posts and rods is a good way to keep up the appearance of your clarinet, and may even help to maintain smooth working order.
A small bottle of key oil, or of sewing machine oil, is useful for occasional application to the key mechanism, at the various points where moving parts meet, again to maintain good working order. A stiff or sluggish mechanism simply makes clarinet technique more difficult than it already is.
Just like a fine piece of furniture, the wooden bore of the clarinet needs to be taken care of, and for this you need some bore oil. There are various kinds of commercially prepared bore oils, but the best one is probably already in your home: It is olive oil, just as good for the wood of your clarinet as it is for dressing your salads. To apply the oil to the bore of the clarinet you need a special oiling swab. This has to be a different swab from the one you use for normal cleaning and drying because, if you use the same one, you will soon have an excessive amount of oil in the bore. Use an old swab that you have put into retirement, or make a special swab as described on page 4, but do not use a commercially made oil swab that contains a twisted metal handle! That metal handle can do more harm to your clarinet bore during one use than you might ever do by failing to oil the bore at all. Whatever you use to apply bore oil should be just as soft and smooth as your regular swab is. The proper way to oil a clarinet bore will be discussed in Chapter 3, "The Clarinet Itself and Barrel Joints."
In order to replace any screws that may be working their way out of your key mechanism, you should have a special repairman's screwdriver. Or you could use a jeweler's screwdriver, or any other small screwdriver that has a small blade. The screwdriver is especially useful if it has a small but very long blade. It is possible to purchase screwdrivers with a selection of interchangeable blades.
On the list of required materials needed by a clarinetist there must be, of all things, the humble pencil. A pencil may seem insignificant but the experienced player knows that when he needs to write something down and he finds himself without a pencil handy, he feels silly. A pencil is very helpful during individual practice sessions, and many ensemble conductors become enraged at players who have nothing to write with during rehearsals. Keep a pencil right beside your other clarinet supplies.
Unless you have access to institution-owned equipment, you must have your own music stand. Many parents of young students fail to see why their little clarinetists can't simply prop up the music on the piano (this puts the music up much too high and sometimes causes actual damage when the clarinet and piano keyboard collide) or, worse, they fail to see why the music can't be propped up inside the clarinet case lying open on the bed. Any clarinetist could tell those parents that playing problems can easily develop when a young student is attempting to read his music at an undesirable angle, since it forces him to hold his clarinet at an equally undesirable angle. Get a music stand!
Not as essential as the other items I have mentioned, but helpful enough to be included here, is the clarinet stand. Usually made of wood or metal, with one or more pegs mounted on it, it is specifically designed for holding clarinets in a vertical position. Players in symphony orchestras use the two-peg variety on the floor in front of them in order to facilitate changing rapidly from the B-flat to the A clarinet and back again, but even in the home it is better to stand the clarinet up on a peg during a short interruption than to lay the clarinet down on its keys.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Clarinet and Clarinet Playing by David Pino. Copyright © 1980 David Pino. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
INTRODUCTION,1 WHAT A CLARINETIST NEEDS,
2 MOUTHPIECES AND LIGATURES,
3 THE CLARINET ITSELF AND BARREL JOINTS,
4 THE TWO BASICS IN CLARINET PLAYING,
5 THE EMBOUCHURE,
6 TECHNIQUE,
7 TONGUING AND ARTICULATION,
8 MUSICIANSHIP,
9 MUSICAL INTERPRETATION,
10 TEACHING OTHER CLARINETISTS,
11 REEDS,
12 PUBLIC PERFORMANCE,
13 THE CLARINETIST'S ORDER OF PRIORITIES,
14 A LOOK AT THE LIFE STORY OF THE CLARINET,
15 THE CLARINET LITERATURE,
APPENDIX I: A SELECTED LIST OF CLARINET LITERATURE,
APPENDIX II: CLARINET FINGERINGS,
APPENDIX III: SOME MAILING ADDRESSES USEFUL TO CLARINETISTS,
BIBLIOGRAPHY,
INDEX,